Regions

GLOBAL - WestLB Mellon Asset Management, the new name for the 50/50 joint venture to be formed by WestLB AG and Mellon Financial Corporation, will be launched in Q1 2006 with approximately e40bn in AuM.

EUROPE -The establishment of Unilever's global equity asset pooling vehicle in Luxembourg will fuel the demand for tax transparent vehicles designed to pool assets from pensions schemes based across the globe, according to industry experts.

GUYANA - President Bharrat Jagdeo (pictured) has announced that pensioners are set to receive a 75% increase in their sums starting January 2006.

US. - The Public Trust an Accountability Act will prevent federal employees guilty of "white collar" offences claiming their pension benefits.

UK: The success of the UK's future pension policy will require a dramatic change in people's attitudes and behaviour towards saving, according to a research conducted by the National Centre for Social Research (NCSR)

GLOBAL -The burden of coping with globally mobile employees' pension benefits for multinational employers would be eased with the introduction of pan-european pensions according to Mercer's Peter Blake (pictured).

SOUTH AFRICA - Retirement fund settlement pay outs will cost the local life insurance industry up to R3bn (US$470m) with one firm, Sanlam, burdening a R600m bill.

AFRICA - Investec Asset Management claims to have launched its pan Africa fund in response to "strong interest" from US and European institutional investors in the African economy.

GLOBAL - Hedge funds returns gained 0.07% last month and a 2.01% year-to-date return as it moved once again into positive territory, according to the Standard & Poor's hedge Fund Index.

EUROPE - The low levels of bond yields is due in part to increasing demand by institutional investors for long-term bonds, the vice president of the European Central Bank (ECB) has claimed.